


Give and Take

by morganoconner



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 03:22:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7918546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganoconner/pseuds/morganoconner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not a thing they talk about, because they're two grown men, and Bucky is an ex-assassin while Clint is a bona fide superhero, if currently unemployed. Talking about it – about the <i>cuddling</i> thing – would be worse than actually doing it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give and Take

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kalakirya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalakirya/gifts).



> This is my first time writing Bucky Barnes, and I'm nervous as hell because he's an absolute favorite I've never had the guts to try before. Kalakirya, thank you so much for the prompt, and I hope I was able to do him some justice! ♥

It's not a thing they talk about, because they're two grown men, and Bucky is an ex-assassin while Clint is a bona fide superhero, if currently unemployed. Talking about it – about the _cuddling_ thing – would be worse than actually doing it.

Bucky can't even say how it started. It was sometime after the doctors woke him up and told him they couldn't put him under again, that it had almost killed him, that he'd been out of the ice for too long. Sometime after Steve left to try and figure out what to be now that he can't be Captain America. Sometime after T'Challa brought Clint to Wakanda because Clint worried about what being an outlawed superhero would do to his family.

Bucky isn't sure when or how it started, but it's been going on for a while, and he thinks – he'll never say it but he _thinks_ – it's the only reason he hasn't completely lost it, being trapped here. Because whenever he starts getting that crawling sensation under his skin, he knows he can go find Clint and curl up on the couch next to him, drop his head to Clint's shoulders and let Clint run calloused fingers through Bucky's too-long hair until the feeling goes away again for a while.

Tonight, though, is the first time Clint has come to him.

Bucky's in the middle of a book, something Scott swore would _change your life, man, you gotta read it!_ , about the boy who goes to wizard school and fights evil. It's cute, the sort of thing Stevie would've probably loved a long time ago, before the war. It's also got the added bonus of not having anything in it that might trigger some of Bucky's worse memories.

He's seven chapters into the third book when Clint slinks into his room, jaw clenched and something dark and sad in his eyes. Bucky closes the book and slides over on his bed without saying a word, and Clint climbs in beside him just as silently.

There's a tense moment where Clint doesn't seem sure of him welcome and lies stiff and uncomfortable beside Bucky, but then he sort of deflates, and one of his arms drapes itself around Bucky's middle while his face buries itself in Bucky's shoulder.

It should be uncomfortable. Clint in lying on Bucky's bad side, the side with the arm that doesn't feel like an arm yet even if it looks more like one and has more sensation than Hydra's ever did. But Bucky has no trouble maneuvering that arm around Clint and pulling him in closer, doesn't consider that it might be weird when he presses a kiss into Clint's hair.

"You doin' okay, sweetheart?" he asks, and doesn't think about how naturally the term of endearment falls.

"Sure," Clint mumbles, though it's obviously not true. Bucky knows the look in his eyes though, and if Clint doesn't want to talk about whatever it is that's got him all twisted up inside, Bucky isn't going to be the one to push. He can guess, anyway. The Raft left scars on Wanda and Sam, too, and even Scott. No chance Clint walked away from that place entirely unscathed.

"Sleep," Bucky tells him. "I got ya."

Clint presses impossibly closer, letting his eyes slip closed on a shuddery sigh. "Okay," he says. Nothing more, but it's enough. Bucky runs his fingers – the normal ones, the _human_ ones – back and forth along Clint's arm for a long while, until Clint's breathing finally evens out. He kisses the top of Clint's head again, holding on as tightly as he can without waking the other man, grateful that his new arm doesn't fall asleep and so he has no reason to let go.

He'll stay awake tonight, and guard Clint's sleep the way Clint's done for him more than once these last weeks. And tomorrow, he'll let Clint hold onto him for a while, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/morganoconner)! :)


End file.
